Election 2009 was barely over before Democrat Al Albanese announced that he would launch a rematch next year against GOP Assemblyman Lou Tobacco (R-South Shore).

What’s the hurry?

“Last time I had no time,” Albanese said of his 2008 race. “This time, I’m not going to have that excuse. I want to start raising money, start getting my name out there.”

Back then, Albanese was not locked in as the candidate until the Democrats held their county convention in June.

“I couldn’t get the word out last time,” said Albanese, who finished with 28 percent of the vote.

While the South Shore remains a GOP stronghold, Albanese said he was heartened by the 35 percent of the vote that Democrat Janine Materna scored off of GOP City Councilman Vinny Ignizio in the district this year.

“She brought a lot more people out,” he said. “That helped us on the South Shore.”

Albanese said that he would be able to get more done in the Democratic-controlled Assembly than Tobacco, especially now that the Dems hold the advantage in the state Senate as well.

He said that none of the legislation that Tobacco proposed “ever got out of committee.”

“I’d bring more to the Island in legislation,” said Albanese, a cable splicer with Verizon and a member of the Communication Workers of America union.

“The [Democratic] conference that he wants to join raised the taxes of New Yorkers to the tune of $8 billion this year in taxes and fees,” Tobacco responded. “That conference has not been friendly to the hard-working, middle-class people of New York state.”

As for legislation, Tobacco said, “It’s his conference’s stranglehold on democracy that doesn’t allow minority legislation to come to the floor.”

Still, Tobacco has good memories of the 2008 battle with Albanese.

“It was a great campaign last time,” he said. “Al was a total gentleman, and I expect next year’s campaign to be about nothing but the issues.”

TOBACCO’S NEW ARRIVALS

Tobacco and his wife, Jennifer, meanwhile, are the proud parents of newborn twins, Luke and Ella, who arrived on Nov. 21.

A blessing indeed, we guess, because it means that Tobacco has been spending his time being “superdad” instead of trucking up to Albany for recent sessions.

“Things are great,” he said. “Except I’m sleepwalking.”

We noted with interest that the babies were born in Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton.

“Yes, the South Shore assemblyman’s children were born on the North Shore,” Tobacco quipped. “It shows my cross-Island support.”

Tobacco added that Albanese was among the first to call him with congratulations after the birth of the twins.

MCMAHON ON ‘CLIMATEGATE’

Climate-change proponents have taken a hit with the recent revelations that scientists at a top research facility in Great Britain may have cooked the books on global warming data.

A desire to help curb global warming by reducing carbon dioxide emissions was one of the reasons that President Barack Obama pushed the controversial “cap-and-trade” bill through the House earlier this year.

While Rep. Mike McMahon (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn) voted for the bill, he said that the fight against global warming was not among his top reasons for doing so.

“The energy bill vote was never about climate change,” he said. “It was about our national security and getting us off dependence on [oil-producing] countries that funded Al Qaida, like Saudi Arabia.”

While McMahon says that there is “visible proof that the earth has warmed” and that limiting global warming was a “laudable goal,” he said his cap-and-trade vote “was about the local environment for me, our dependence on foreign oil and alternative energy sources.”

The Senate, embroiled in the health-care debate, has yet to take up cap-and-trade.

GATECRASHERS AND SARAH PALIN

McMahon said that something positive may come out of the recent gate-crashing incident at the White House.

“On the one side, it’s serious that someone was able to get in who wasn’t on the guest list,” he said. “But it could be a good thing, because now they’ll tighten the security up, as they should.”

McMahon said that coverage of the gatecrashers -- a pair of reality-show wannabes -- shows that “the media is becoming a caricature of itself by playing it up. If it wasn’t so serious, it would be funny.”

Speaking of media splashes, McMahon said he has yet to read Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue.”

“I love to read hardcovers,” he said. “I’ll wait until I can get it on sale at Costco. I never play full price.”

In all seriousness, McMahon said he’ll probably pick up the tome eventually.

“I watch Fox News and MSNBC,” he said. “I’m not opposed to taking a look at it. I don’t know if I could get through the whole thing.”

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

The South Shore Republican Club will hold is annual Christmas party on Tuesday, at 7 p.m., at Bocelli’s restaurant, 1250 Hylan Blvd.

The Anthony R. Gaeta Democratic Club will host a free spaghetti dinner on Dec. 14, at 7 p.m., at the Manor House, 917 Manor Rd. The club will give out its John Kearney Award that night. Call 917-880-7092 for more information.